Human Rights Bodies of the United Nations: Collected News Items
In this section, you find a selection of articles about international subjects, including news on UN bodies, international campaigns, ill-treatments, international fight on terrorism, or arms control. Because of the abundance of international news in these matters, the approach of www.humanrights.ch is to restrict to news somehow related to Switzerland.
Giant need for reform, great reform measures, little effective reforms
From a little NGO’s point of view, that has repeatedly taken on the responsibility for the composition of shadow reports in a civil society completing the official Swiss state reports to the hands UN organs, in the course of time a decidedly negative image of the human rights state report proc...
The Human Rights Council, the most important political human rights institution of the United Nations is at present being carefully examined in order to effect an in-depth revision. Several conferences have already taken place on the topic, and in October 2010 and January 2011 Geneva hosted the firs...
On 10 December 2008, Human Rights Day, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) celebrates its 60th birthday. The short text was written in 1948 and soon became one of the most influential documents of modern times. Translated in more than 300 languages, the Universal Declaration of Human ...
Her appointment as High Commissioner for Human Rights was confirmed by the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 28 July 2008: Navanethem Pillay, of South Africa, succeeds to Louise Arbour. Her four-year term will start on 1 September 2008. As native of poor neighbourhood of Durban...
On 8 August 2007, m ore than a million people celebrated in Beijing the countdown for next year's Summer Olympics. The government has put the event very high on the political agenda despite international concerns about pollution and criticism by human rights organisations – among which Amnes...
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published the latest Special Procedures Bulletin for the period of January to March 2008 on their website. It compiles information on the activities - including country visits - of the thirty-eight Special Rapporteurs, as well as information on ...
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published the latest Special Procedures Bulletin for the period of October to December 2007 on their website. The highlight of this period was the statements given by Special Rapporteurs on the occasion of the 60th anniversary year of the Univer...
The Council of Europe is concerned about the disappearance of newborn babies from hospitals in the Ukraine. The former Swiss National Councillor Ruth-Gaby Vermot (national councillor and member of the parlamentarian committee of the Council of Europe, PACE, until December 2007) spent two years res...
The controversial detention centre at the Guantanamo Base is already 6 years old: the first terror suspects arrived on 11 January, 2002. «Guantánamo Bay is a symbol of injustice and abuse», writes Amnesty International, whose Secretary General of the Swiss branch, Daniel Bolomey...
Every three months the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights publishes a bulletin reporting on the current work of the UN Special Procedures. It contains information on the different country visits undertaken by the Special Rapporteurs or Special Representatives, gives an overview of al...
On 15 November 2007 the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution for a global moratorium on executions with 99 in favour, 52 against and 33 abstentions. «This historic resolution is a major step torwards worldwide abolition of the death penalty,» said Irene Khan,...
The organisation for the protection of jounalists is advocating a boycott of the Olympic games 2008 held in Beijing, because the Chinese government is not respecting the right to freedom of expression. Michael Rory, head of the Swiss section of the organisation, said «We are disappointed by ...
Human rights annually celebrated on December 10, are universal. However, more than one third of women throughout the world experience gender specific violence, and these violations can be found in all countries, cultures and sections of the society. To raise awareness for this issue and to honour ...
The launch of the Fribourg Declaration on Cultural Rights was held May 7, 2007 at the University of Fribourg and May 8, 2007 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The text was presented by the Observatory of Diversity and Cultural Rights (which headquarters are at the Interdisciplinary Institute of...
The «Special Operation» Unit of the United Nations Volunteers programme and the Swiss placement organisation cinfo organise a Recruitment Mission, which will take place in Bienne on the 30-31 May and 1 June. It will start with a workshop open to all interested persons! Experienced huma...
August 30th 2008 marks the 25th anniversary of the International Day of the Disappeared. On this day events will take place all over the world to commemorate the disappeared and campaign for the UN convention. This global action is organised by the International Coalition against Enforced Disappea...
On 21 December 2006, the Swiss Federal Council opened a consultation procedure regarding the ratification of two UNESCO Conventions: the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural ...
This new electronic database provides instant access for all countries to human rights information from the United Nations system. Mandated and financed by the Swiss government, the Universal Human Rights Index was developed over the last three years by the Institute of Public Law at the Universit...
In New York, the 62nd United Nations General Assembly has been in session since 25 September, 2007. During this time, Switzerland has offered several statements concerning human rights issues. In the Third Committee, which among other things deals with human rights questions, high ranking Swiss di...
«Stop abusive states from playing system to avert criticism». It is around this main idea that Human Rights Watch, one of the leading human rights international organisation has presented it World Report on 14 January 2009. «The successful defense of human rights will require ser...
The UN General Assembly decided in 2006 to hold a Review Conference to assess and accelerate progress on the implementation of measures adopted at the 2001 World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, which was held in Durban, South Africa. The Review...
